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Matthysse didn’t deserve Danny Garcia’s belts

By Idol: I’ve been following Lucas Matthysse’s career since the before the Devon Alexander and Zab Judah upsets. I know what he is capable of, and where he lacks fundamentals. Believe me, my heart was shattered as I watched Lucas get beaten last Saturday night by WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (27-0, 26 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. I’m not going to make excuses for Matthysse. The fact of the matter is Matthysse clearly didn’t deserve the belt.

Garcia (who I actually despise) not only prepared well, but he fought the PERFECT fight against Matthysse. Both fighters were looking to take away each other’s biggest threat. The big difference was Garcia landed the match defining shot first. By taking away Matthysse’s eye (luck or not), the fight became a desperate race against time for Lucas. Funny thing is Matthysse seemed to have the better game plan from the start. He was attacking Garcia at awkward angles that were leaving Garcia in awkward positions. Again, the only difference was once Garcia took away Matthysse’s eye, Lucas’s plan went out the window, or at least couldn’t be executed with effectiveness anymore.

YES, I agree the knockdown was BS, and the ref really blew it with that one. He should’ve stepped in the SECOND Lucas got tangled up. That knockdown took a lot away from Lucas, and only served to make his desperate race that much worse. Like I said, I think Garcia is highly overrated, and his reign as champ should’ve ended a long time ago if he had not been put against geriatric boxers of yesterday, but unfortunately for his “haters” (like myself) he did an EXCELLENT job against Matthysse, and absolutely ran over him easier than he really should have.

For the outcome, I blame Matthysse AND his corner. For one Matthysse approached the fight with one game plan and no real plan B. During round 12 when both fighter’s went to war to please the fans, clearly Matthysse’s shots were hurting Garcia far more than the other. Garcia withdrew after feeling 2 bombs, and was even swayed to an awkward angle that allowed him to intelligently bounce himself off the ropes. Not only did that show Lucas was the bigger puncher, but it also displayed Garcia’s intelligence to defend himself properly during potential trouble. AGAIN, I’m not sure how Matthysse should have approached Garcia after the big shot to the eye, but Matthysse’s cautiousness, and respect towards Garcia might have been his downfall as well. Garcia’s counter punching is slower,, but his hand-speed was quick and on par with Matthysse’s. MAYBE it would’ve been in Matthysse’s benefit to go out and force Garcia into a slug-fest right off the bat.

What made this fight so good was the fact that both fighter’s had the tools to take each other out. However, Garcia won the battle of wits, and that lead to winning the overall boxing match as well.

I’ve read various articles mentioning Garcia throwing illegal hits. I do remember noticing two low blows, but excluding the timeout and point deduction, I highly doubt that was Garcia’s game-plan. Even if that was part of his blueprint, again it was Matthysse’s fault for not taking a second to backup and call out the ref. After all, Garcia was the one boxing (using movement) while Matthysse was the doing the stalking. Let’s not allow ourselves to belittle a fighter’s accomplishments in the way that Dan Ambrose does.

I don’t think it’s fair to take anything away from Garcia’s in a fight that mostly everyone (including myself, once again) predicted would end by Matthysse’s murdering Garcia. Like I said, I can’t stand the kid, but I’m not going to disrespect him just because he took out one of my favorite fighters. The only one to blame here is Matthysse, and his lack of in-ring generalship. He needs to learn how to approach things differently depending on different situations. Danny Garcia deserved that win on all respect, and he most definitely got respect from me even if I was chugging my Corona out of hate, and rage.

Ultimately, I think this is Showtime’s answer to the Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado trilogy, except with far more dangerous talent involved. A rematch would be explosive, and definitely in the best interest of both fighter’s AFTER Garcia’s upcoming matchup against Mayweather next May. As for Matthysse, I’m not quite sure where he goes from here until than. Perhaps a fight against Marcos Maidana after Adrien Broner would bring in big money, as well as interest considering Maidana is already contemplating retirement. I doubt Broner would take on a fighter coming off from a loss like Matthysse, so that probably won’t happen for a while, if ever. One thing I am sure of is that if anyone deserves Floyd Mayweather next year, it’s definitely Garcia … even if my hater blood tells me that will be a shut-out worse than Robert Guerrero was.